Outlander Premiere Date Officially Set For August, New Poster Arrives

In addition to releasing a colorful new poster to promote Ron Moore's small screen adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander, Starz has officially set the premiere date for the series' 16-episode first season for August 9. That's about what we expected (though we hoped for the week prior), as Starz's new drama Power will have wrapped up by then, vacating the Saturday 9:00 p.m. spot, which is where Starz has been airing all of their original dramas this year.

The poster depicts Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe) looking stunning with the wind in her hair, as she reaches back for the hand and suited arm of the love of her past -- her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies) -- while the love of her future, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) reaches out for her just ahead.

Executive produced by Ronald D. Moore, based on Diana Gabaldon's series of novels, the story centers on Claire Randall, a British WWII combat nurse who's on vacation with her husband in Scotland when she visits a mysterious rock formation and finds herself thrown back in time to 18th Century Scotland. It's there that she's forced to marry Jamie Fraser, a young Scottish warrior who promises to keep her safe. Romance and adventure ensues, along with the mystery of Claire's time travel plight.

Like the poster above, the recently released trailer for Outlander also focuses on Claire being torn in two directions, as she was happily married in her 1940's past, but has no idea if she'll ever get back there. Meanwhile, she quickly develops feelings for the gallant Jamie Fraser...

Is it cheating if you're forced to be married to another person... and it's in a completely different century? That's up for debate, I suppose, but Claire's situation certainly is complicated.

The August 9 premiere date is unfortunately far off, but not all that surprising when we factor in Starz's original programming release strategy, which has been to focus on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. specifically for all of their original programming, including Black Sails, Da Vinci's Demons and the upcoming drama Power, which is scheduled to take over that timeslot on June 7.

Power will presumably -- barring any breaks -- end its 8-episode Season 1 run at the end of July, making August 2 the next available Saturday for Starz. Maybe Starz is planning a catch-up weekend for Power somewhere during its run, or else, they're looking to put an open weekend between Power's finale and Outlander's premiere. Either way, early August was our guess, and August 9 is officially confirmed! Let the countdown begin!